Building automation systems can include systems such as a Heating, Ventilation and/or Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, security/access control systems, lighting systems, fire alarm and/or suppression systems and/or other building control systems. Many building automation systems include building control devices that activate and deactivate components of the building automation system to affect and control one or more conditions within the building. Many of these building control devices are connected to a network, such as a LAN and/or WAN. Such building control devices can often be monitored and/or controlled from a remote device that is also connected to the network.
The building control devices are typically provisioned with network credentials that allow the building control devices to connect to and access the network. The network credentials may include, for example, a network identifier (e.g. SSID) and a network password. In some cases, the network credentials, such as the network password, may be changed from time to time, such as to enhance security of the network. When such changes occur, the building control devices typically lose access to the network and go offline. This can affect the operation of the building automation system by, for example, preventing remote monitoring and/or control of the building control devices from a remote location. In any event, to reconnect each of the building control devices to the network, a user typically has to go to each building control device and update the network credentials or reconfigure the device. When there are multiple building control devices connected to the network, this can be a time consuming and tedious process.
In some cases, the network itself may become unavailable to a building control device. This can occur when, for example, the network host itself goes down, or in the case of a wireless network, the wireless signal at a particular building control device becomes weak preventing a reliable wireless connection. In some cases, there is a second network in the building, but the building control device typically cannot connect to the second network until a user goes to the building control device and updates the network credentials to correspond to the second network. When there are multiple building control devices that lose the network connection, this can be a time consuming and tedious process. Moreover, in order to update the network credentials, the user typically has to be physically present with access to the building control device.
What would be desirable are methods and system for enhancing network connectivity for building control devices of a building automation system.